The words to this piece came to me after reading a beautiful meme on facebook by Rebel Thriver, quoting Matt Baker’s words: “She never seemed shattered; to me, she was a breathtaking mosaic of the battles she’s won.” (meme seen below with link to Rebel Thriver’s post on Facebook.)

I don’t resonate with the image of being in a battle, but I certainly go through a lot, as do so many people, so I adapted the words to something I could say to myself or to someone who is struggling:

I didn’t know how to approach bringing my words to life visually. I don’t have the energy to make a real mosaic. And I couldn’t find an app or program to make a mosaic from an image I’ve already made. And then I came across this image on Facebook by Leonie Dawson:

The image struck me as something I could do, a creative way to make an image like a mosaic.

Here my version is before colour:

This is the first image I’ve been able to sit up and paint in many months, and I’m still recovering from the effort, but I got lost in it and it was so fulfilling to do. Hopefully soon I will be able to do more.